Ordinary 3

The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10 Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 27; Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

At the heart of all relationship is communication. It is one of many things that bind us together. Communication is an exchange of speaking and listening, listening and responding. We communicate our cares and concerns; tell stories of the past and hopes for the future; vent our anger, frustration and sadness; and express our joy and excitement of life. Having a conversation is very much like breathing. We inhale another’s thoughts and exhale our response. We take in and we let go.

This is the experience of the Liturgy of the Word; a conversation between God and ourselves as a community and as individuals.  God speaks to us through the stories of Israel in the Hebrew Scriptures, the letters of the early Christian communities, and the Gospels of Jesus as related through the lens of his death and resurrection.

Like all true communication we are invited, like the Israelites today, to listen attentively. Regrettably listening attentively is difficult and a diminishing skill in our culture. To listen attentively is to give our full attention to the speaker. It is not about agreeing or disagreeing with a position but like breathing, inhaling, filling our lungs, savouring ideas and thoughts, mulling over values before we respond. Listening demands an inner silence or quieting on our part. In the Liturgy that necessary silence follows the proclamation of the first and second readings.

In the hearing the Word of God in this way the Church is built up and grows.  The word of God by looking back to past events addresses our present situation offering us the hope needed to move into the future. The Word of God reveals God’s presence with his people through wonderful past works in the history of salvation presenting anew mysterious realities.

As in any conversation, it is only after we have attentively listened in a reflective silence that we can honestly respond. And so we do in the singing of the Psalm. We use the Word of God to respond to the Word of God. But notice our response is sung not spoken. We use the fullness of our bodies and breath to respond to the breath, the Spirit of God.

In the passage of Nehemiah the people respond to the reading of the Word of God in two ways. First, they prostrate themselves before God. They laid out face down on the ground. Catholics only experience prostration in the rites of ordination when the candidates prostrate themselves in the midst of the community as the Litany of Saints is sung and on Good Friday when the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion begins in silence with the prostration of the clergy.

Prostration is a gesture of full surrender. Orthodox Christians and Muslims still incorporate communal prostration in their public prayers. Though we do not physically prostrate, do we surrender ourselves to the will of God as spoken to us in the Word of God?

Nehemiah records the people bowed before God. But where was God? God’s presence was in the Word proclaimed by Ezra. Catholic Christianity has so emphasized the presence of Christ in the consecrated bread and wine that over the centuries our understanding of the presence of Christ in the Word proclaimed has been weakened. Have you ever wondered why the Book of Gospels is laid on the altar just like the bread and wine? One table, two forms of Christ’s presence that make for one act of worship. Word and Sacrament together are the presence of Christ.

The Fathers at the Second Vatican Council desired to open more fully the Word of God to us. Did you realize that over a three year cycle we virtually hear all four Gospels, all the Letters of Paul and other Christian letters, and major portions of the Hebrew Scriptures and prophets alongside the Book of Psalms?! The Council desired to not just address an imbalance between Word and Sacrament but to open up more lavishly the Word of God for our salvation because this Word is living, active and creative.

Recall our whole sacred story begins with a creative Word: “Let there be light! And there was light.” The Word of God is creative and still creating. And if Word can bring about a living creation what more can it do in the human heart?

How often in the Gospel Jesus commands a healing. And the command is followed by the word, “Immediately…” “Immediately” sight is restored, “immediately” paralysis evaporates, “immediately” the mute speak, “immediately” death is vanquished. So why not sin forgiven? The Sacrament of Reconciliation: “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father….”

The Word is so dynamic that Jesus proclaims today just by attentively listening to the Word, it is fulfilled!

Consider the biblical words we make our own throughout the Eucharistic Liturgy.

We cry out with the blind man, Bartimaeus and the Canaanite woman pleading for her daughter, “Lord, have mercy” and sing with the angels, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of good will.”

We hear the words of John the Baptist, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” and respond with the words of a Roman centurion, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof…”

At the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer, we join our voices with the seraphim and cherubim who sing Isaiah reveals: “Holy, Holy, holy, Lord God of hosts! Heaven and earth are full of your glory!" And because the Word of God is alive we in a real way join with the heavenly singers to praise God. Thus our singing joins heaven and earth in one act of worship. And then we add the words of the crowd shouted to Jesus as he entered the city of Jerusalem in triumph: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Nine times we declare the Hebrew and biblical word; “Amen!” to affirm over and over the words of our prayers before God.

The key word in all this is listening. It takes much energy and concentration to truly listen to each other, to God, to Word proclaimed. It is the most difficult act of participation in the Liturgy. Yet it is an absolutely necessary element to enter into the spiritual life. Not only is this true for our public worship but at home when we use the Bible for personal and family prayer.

Do you pray at home using the Bible? I’ll admit the book, or rather this library of 73 documents, can be daunting. The Bible is not meant to be read as a novel from cover to cover. It is to be read as we do in church in small passages so as to allow us to listen and reflect on with attention.

The best way to use the Bible for prayer is a method called ‘lectio divina’ or ‘sacred reading.’ Unlike a novel the purpose is not to get to the end but to pause, linger, listen, and reflect on what God is speaking to you.

On our website have been posted three brief YouTubes that explain the method. I strongly encourage you to look at them and consider introducing this form of prayer into your life.  

In the bulletin you will find a handout from the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops explaining the Liturgy of the Word and how to listen to the Word of God proclaimed in the Eucharist.

In the center aisle are some Bibles and books on the scripture, free for the taking.

God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit deeply desire to speak with you. The Bible is God’s half of the conversation. Might we enter into that exchange surrendering ourselves and be seduced by a lover – God.